Press Story

The research on criminal justice is part of a forthcoming book called Devolution in Practice 2010 to be published by the leading think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (ippr).

It highlights both that patterns of crime in Scotland are different from England and other parts of the UK and that the Scottish government is adopting different strategies to tackle crime.

Crime patterns

Analysis of the British Crime Survey (covering England and Wales), the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey and the Northern Ireland Crime Survey shows that:

Overall crime is lower in Scotland than in England and Wales but it has not fallen as quickly
The Scottish crime rate has remained the same since devolution in 1999 while in England and Wales it has fallen by 11.2 percentage points and in Northern Ireland by 9.2 percentage points
Some crimes have increased in Scotland since devolution but not elsewhere:
- whereas vandalism fell by 0.6 percentage points in England and by 1.1 percentage points in Northern Ireland, it rose by a very significant 2.9 percentage points in Scotland.
- whereas the number of assaults fell by 1.5 percentage points in England and Wales and 0.9 percentage points in Northern Ireland, they increased by 1.2 percentage points in Scotland.
There is a significant difference in the make up of crime between the different nations: whereas 80 percent of crime in England and Wales is property crime, just 70 percent of crime is property crime in Northern Ireland and Scotland. By contrast whereas just 20 percent of crime in England and Wales is violent crime, 30 per cent of crime is violent crime in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Explanations

We can only speculate as to the reason for the disparities in crime rates across the UK but some possible explanations include:

Policing investment:
- Scotland spends a lower proportion of its public spending on policing than other parts of the UK - and the gap is widening
- Scotland was spending £33 per head less on policing than the UK average in 2001-2002, now it is £44 per head less
Police spending in the UK as a whole is 21 per cent higher than in Scotland (and this despite the fact that overall spending per head is higher in Scotland than it is in England and Wales)
Alcohol consumption: the growth in assaults may be explained by higher levels of alcohol misuse in Scotland - 58 per cent of victims of violent crime in Scotland said their attacker had consumed alcohol (compared to 47 per cent in England and Wales)
Policy differences:
- Scotland has not adopted a national neighbourhood or community policing strategy and does not have police community support officers
- Scotland has a less punitive approach to anti-social behaviour among young people

We do not yet have the evidence to enable us to decide which of these, if any, accounts for the differences. We know that economic differences cannot account for the divergence because Scotland's economy grew during the last decade as it did in the rest of the UK . Previous ippr research had found that the more punitive approach to anti-social behaviour in England and Wales is not as successful as the more preventative approaches taken in Scotland.

In analysing the main developments in criminal justice and policing policy across the four nations of the UK, our research highlights a number of innovative policies that others might learn from:

The Scottish Government has taken a more preventative approach to anti-social behaviour among young people, which previous ippr research has found to be successful in tackling the root causes
In England and Wales the new system of neighbourhood policing appears to have improved public confidence in the police
In Northern Ireland the use of restorative justice, where offenders have to meet with their victims and face the consequences of their behaviour, has been shown to be more effective at reducing reoffending

The author of the study, Dr Rick Muir, a Senior Research Fellow at ippr said:

"It is clear that patterns of crime and government policies differ across the UK. Although crime is lower in Scotland than in England and Wales, it has not been as successful at reducing crime. We don't know yet whether that is because of less investment, wider social factors or different policies. One important benefit of devolution is it allows different areas to adopt different solutions, so different parts of the UK can learn from each other."

The study concludes that if we are to reap the full benefits of learning across the UK, further research is required into why some approaches worked better than others.

Notes to editors

The chapter 'Crime and justice after devolution' by Rick Muir is taken from the forthcoming book Devolution in Pratice 2010 edited by Guy Lodge and Katie Schmuecker, to be published by ippr in April 2010. It assesses the impact devolution has made on a number of major policy areas in the last decade.

Contact
For further details contact: Tim Finch ippr, 020 7470 6106 / 07595 920 899 / t.finch@ippr.org
or Monica Evans, 020 7470 6112 / m.evans@ippr.org